page_title: Maxey Dell Moody
section_title: M. D. Moody
hierarchical_section_title: Maxey Dell Moody / Career / M. D. Moody
caption_attribution_description: English: Max Moody Sr. (far-right) in the 1940s.
context_page_description: Maxey Dell "Max" Moody Sr., also known as M. D. Moody, was the founder of M. D. Moody & Sons, Inc. in 1913 and the patriarch of the Moody family of Jacksonville, Florida. His business, M. D. Moody, became the oldest family owned construction equipment distributor in the United States and at one point the largest crane dealer in the southeast. Moody also founded the American Road Builders' Association and was known as the "oldest construction machinery man in Florida."
context_section_description: In 1915 Moody decided to give up his career in the drug business in favor of the road building industry. For three years he worked as a road grader salesman for J.D. Adams & Company where his initials M.D. gave him the nickname Mule Driver because of his skill in driving mules through demonstrations in road graders. In 1913 Moody decided to establish a road construction company called M. D. Moody in the LaVilla area of Jacksonville to serve the needs of the road building equipment industry. M. D. Moody was initially affiliated with the Cyclone Fence Company until the 1920s. Moody held multiple positions at M. D. Moody as salesman, parts manager and serviceman.
  On April 23, 1918, his mother Eliza died. In that same year, the events of World War I in Europe forced Max to register for the draft on September 9, 1918 due to the Selective Service Act of 1916 but he was never sent overseas as the war ended one month later. In 1919 Maxey was a passenger in a bad car accident when his friend, who was driving the car, turned over and was killed. On June 10, 1920 Maxey joined the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and Scottish Rite at the Morocco Temple in Jacksonville. His business received numerous awards for his contributions to the Shriners.
  During the 1920s M. D. Moody entered the marine equipment business by manufacturing their own marine engines and then with the Waukesha Engine dealership. During World War II the business supplied construction equipment needed for the expansion of military bases in Florida. In 1942 M. D. Moody became the sole distributor of the American Hoist & Derrick Company (American Crane and now part of Terex) in Florida.
caption: Maxey, far-right, with a street sweeper and employees from M. D. Moody & Sons in the late 1940s.
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